Early on, the Hebrews differentiated themselves from their neighbors by being more civilized. G-d stopped child sacrifice among the Jews, leading Abraham to the edge of killing his son, Isaac and then pulling back. The lesson learned by the Hebrews is that we don't do that, even though the surrounding tribes did. One wonders if the "surrounding tribes" have changed much, given their proclivity to send impressionable children as walking bombs onto Israeli buses and into jammed public facilities. And don't forget 911 either in this regard.

An even more striking ancient parallel is found in this story, concerning the Philistines' wanton and purposeless clogging of water wells drilled by Abraham (link):

When Isaac planted in that land, he reaped in the same year a hundred times what he had sown, because the LORD blessed him. The man became wealthy. His influence continued to grow until he became very prominent. He had so many sheep and cattle and such a great household of servants that the Philistines became jealous of him. So the Philistines took dirt and filled up all the wells that his fathers servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham.

Then Abimelech (king of the Philistines) said to Isaac, Leave us and go elsewhere, for you have become much more powerful than we are. So Isaac left there and settled in the Gerar Valley. Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug back in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after Abraham died. Isaac gave these wells the same names his father had given them.​

One wonders, in a desert environment, why the Philistines ruined the wells rather than using them. Then, plowing planes into buildings never made much sense.Some people enjoyed destruction for its own sake then, and still do.

Islam's extremely violent start is also well known. Their virtually unhindered spread from the Mecca area to the Atlantic and to the borders of modern India occurred largely at the point of a sword. There were, during those early years, some constructive developments. In many areas, intellectually, they were ahead of Europe, then in the "Dark Ages". They were more tolerant of Jews and Christians than Christians were of Jews and Muslims. At least "dhimmitude" allowed survival, under conditions of degradation and financial servitude.

Their predatory habits on the trade of other peoples is also well-known. One of the great impetuses for the development of shipping was the need to avoid travel through mortally dangerous Muslim lands en route to the Far East. Later, the Barbary Coast pirates and pirates off modern-day Somalia, all Muslims, made theft from Europeans (and eventually Americans) and the "white slave" trade an art form. Then as now, it took the Americans to crack down rather than pay tribute.

Since then, the Barbary Coast Pirates have morphed into OPEC (all of the money benefits the rulers, not the people), the UN, and disaster-milking. Remember those pitiful faces on ads for charities after the Indonesia tsunami and the Pakistan earthquake? How much rebuilding do you think has really happened? Then as now, there are producers, and there are extorters and takers. After the Holocaust, an undisputed atrocity, its victims picked themselves up, and are now valuable contributors to the world wherever they live.

Did (do) they have cause to be "angry" with the butchers that killed 6,000,000 of them? Where are their suicide bombers? Where are the Americans attacking bazaars in Araby after September 11? Where's the anger of the non-Muslim world against Muslims? Instead of anger, you see the Michael Moores of the world prattling about "negotiations".

Mass media, the UN, certain posters on this Board, and certain former officials of France, among others, would have people believe that the Arabs were thrust into a bellicose role towards the world by Israeli aggression and intransigence. This school of thought blames Muslim-generated strife throughout the world on the "sense of hopelessness" engendered by Israel. This is not close to being true.

The "hopelessness" comes from hopelessly bad government, a life based on violence and fighting, and a love of death. These are not things that lead to anything good.

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